Cyrus Nowrasteh and Shohreh Aghdashloo from the Movie The Stoning of Soraya M.

CN: People ask me this all the time, “Are you worried about backlash?” “Are you worried about certain reactions”? I can’t control that. We have to tell the story as honestly and forthrightly as possible. The thing is, in terms of Islam and how it’s perceived or played in this film, there’s a quote at the front of this movie; a very important quote which is taken from the book by a very influential Iranian poet, Hafiz, who’s like the Shakespeare of Iran and he says, “Beware of the hypocrite who conceals his wiles while loudly quoting the Koran.” What’s that about? - Imposters. What’s the very next image after that, an image of Khamenei. So, in the film you’ve got a Mullah who’s an imposter. This is very common by the way. For guys to parade around the country side of Iran shortly after Islamic revolution wearing these robes and carrying a Koran and claiming they’re a Holy man because it would give them influence and they’d be received in homes and given things and given some power. So, in a way, this is about how those who sort of hijack the religion, use it to their own ends, but at the same time, and this is very important, stoning is codified. It’s in the written law in the Islamic Republic of Iran. I have something from the penal code: Article 104 of the Islamic penal code: the size of the stone used in stoning shall not be too large to kill on contact by one or two throws but at the same time cannot be too small to be called a stone. The intention there is to prolong the suffering and punishment. This is in the laws.

However, it is not in the Koran. It’s mentioned in the Bible. It’s mentioned in the Hadees The supposed sayings and incidences witnessed during Mohammed’s life by other people. Depending on what scholars you read there are hundreds of thousands of these incidences and sayings. A lot of the reformers in Islam are trying to disseminate which of the saying and incidences have historical justification and which don’t. It’s an ongoing debate.